


You Always Know Just What To Say

by supernatasha



Category: The Mindy Project
Genre: Break Up, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-08
Updated: 2013-10-08
Packaged: 2017-12-28 21:17:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/996804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/supernatasha/pseuds/supernatasha
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Immediately post the Mindy/Casey breakup of episode 02.03.</p>
<p>She thinks sulking on her own is a stupid idea. She's young, she's loved, and she just broke up with her boyfriend so technically, she's on the rebound. So Mindy pulls herself out of bed, does her makeup, gets out of the comfy breakup pajamas, throws on a dress (but still a cute one – she may be heartbroken but she's not stepping out looking anything less than the goddamn queen she is), and locks the door behind her.</p>
<p>Of course she does start crying in the cab.</p>
            </blockquote>





	You Always Know Just What To Say

It starts because of a stupid text Morgan sends her that says: _proposed to dr c. he said yess!!_

Mindy stares at it for a long moment through blurry eyes and she's too exhausted to even ask what the hell he's talking about. Danny's not gay. Is he? She spends nearly four minutes trying to figure out if he's gay before she remembers he was married to a woman. He could still be bi. Is he bi?

She doesn't bother to text back, just rolls back into bed and pulls the cover up over her.

But then Morgan texts her again, and this time it says: _we all miss you!_

And she thinks sulking on her own is a stupid idea. She's young, she's loved, and she just broke up with her boyfriend so technically, she's on the rebound. So Mindy pulls herself out of bed, does her makeup, gets out of her comfy breakup pajamas, throws on a dress (but still a cute one – she may be heartbroken but she's not stepping out looking anything less than the goddamn queen she is), and locks the door behind her.

Of course she does start crying in the cab so the driver looks at her through the mirror and asks, "Hey lady, you alright back there?"

"Um," she sniffs. "Yeah. Sorry for being all snotty in your taxi."

"I've seen it all," the driver shrugs and returns his attention on the road.

She realizes abruptly her mascara must be running. Mindy tries to catch a glance of herself in the mirror, then in her phone, but it's too dark so she gives up. She wets the tips of her fingertips and hopes she's getting it off.

She takes a picture of herself with her phone and the driver asks incredulously, "Are you photographing yourself crying?"

"I was trying to check my make up," she retorts, feeling heat rise in her cheeks and too embarrassed to look at her phone now. She pouts for the rest of the ride but still gives him a ridiculous tip when he drops her off.

The only thing that remains at the venue is the aftermath. A couple of drunk teenagers stumble around and workers are picking up trash. She wishes she was still a teenager, with plenty of time to figure out things like relationships and careers how lovely it would be to hold her liquor like she did in college. Mindy heads to the makeshift clinic tent, still well-lit and relatively noisy compared to the rest of the tents. She opens the flap and-

"Mindy!" Betsy crashes into Mindy like a truck.

Mindy manages not to trip and returns the hug. "Hi, Betsy. Wow, how much have you had to drink?"

"Just enough," she says with a silly smile that crinkles up the corners of her eyes, and Mindy is close enough to make out her faded lipstick and the spot of mascara on her cheek from her eyelashes but _god,_ she looks happy. It almost breaks Mindy's heart all over again and she swallows, disentangles herself from Betsy.

Danny's studying her. "Hey. You came back. You okay?"

"I'm fine," Mindy says, too fast and too defensive, and crosses her arms over her chest. "I'm okay, I mean. I wanted to see if you guys needed help cleaning up and Morgan texted me – oh, yeah. Morgan texted me. He proposed to you?"

"Yeah, it was just this stupid thing he did to get the National to play us a song. You know, since I missed the concert and all."

"That doesn't sound stupid," Mindy says quietly and when she feels the tears rise again in her, she bites the inside of her cheek and quickly adds, "I mean, you love the National. You should be happy he did it."

Danny crosses his own arms over his chest, almost unconsciously mirroring her. "Are you sure you're okay? You look-" he shrugs and scuffs his shoes "-weird."

Mindy rolls her eyes, "Jeez, thanks. You always know just what to say."

"Where's your boyfriend?"

She takes a deep breath and. Gah, that stupid feeling's coming over her again, where her face feels too warm and there's a crackling in her ears and she just _knows_ she's about to start crying again. She opens her mouth but her throat is closed up and instead she shakes her head, turns on her heel, and runs out the door.

"Mindy, wait!" she can hear Danny call behind her but she is _not_ crying in front of him. She came out to have fun, to not be cooped up by herself, to join her friends (and possibly get very drunk? She's still thinking that one over). She definitely didn't leave the comfort of her breakup pajamas and warm bed to get judged by Danny Castellano of all people.

Finding a quiet spot behind an abandoned tent, Mindy gingerly lowers herself to the fake grass and pulls out her phone. Her background is a picture of her and Casey and it makes her irrationally angry that she deemed him significant enough to go to Haiti with when she already had a good thing going here. The more she thinks about it, the more ridiculous the whole thing seems. She'd nearly gotten married to him – in her _scrubs_ , of all things. It hadn't been this complicated before, had it? Or was she simply forgetting each time?

Breakups are never glamorous, she knows that. She's not Reese Witherspoon and she's not going to Harvard and kicking ass with her extensive knowledge of fashion. She's just… alone.

"He broke up with you?" Danny's voice breaks through her pity party.

Mindy looks up and is relieved she's still dry-eyed. Well, relatively. "Opposite," she says and cuts off there because her voice is doing the scratchy thing it usually does when she's this close to breaking down.

Danny joins her on the astroturf. "I thought you two were going to work things out."

She has to take a deep breath and clear her throat, "I did too."

"What went wrong?"

She considers. "I'm not sure."

"I wasn't either," Danny says just barely audible. Before Mindy can ask, he goes on, "I mean, when Christina said she wanted to live apart for a few days, I didn't even know she meant she wanted to separate. I just thought she missed her mom. Honestly, I'm still not sure what went wrong. It's funny how that's the first thing people ask and yet it's what no one really knows."

It's more information than Danny usually ever volunteers about his relationships willingly and Mindy listens in spite of herself, somewhat fascinated. "You did end up getting a second chance."

"And look how that turned out," he replies, raising an eyebrow. They're both quiet for a moment and Danny says, "Hey, you didn't really want to marry someone who was a DJ for a living, did you?"

Mindy frowns at him. "That's the whole problem, Danny. I _did_."

He looks chastised. "Sorry. I just don't know why you were with him."

"Ugh. You never like any of my boyfriends."

"That's not true," he protests. "I liked… um, that guy. The one who…" he trails off and Mindy glares at him until he adds, "Reed and I are on pretty good terms."

"I never dated him," Mindy says and sighs. "Never mind. It's not like I have particularly good taste in men and it seems to be getting worse. You don't think I'm desperate, do you? Actually, don't answer that. It's not like I need validation, or maybe I do. That might be a problem. I'm rambling, aren't I?"

Danny nods. "But it's a good kind of rambling. Like the kind you need after you break up with your fiancé, maybe."

Mindy chews her lower lip and looks back down at the screensaver on her phone. In the dim glow, her eyes shine with the slightest sheen of tears. Danny nudges her hand with his own, his pinkie finger warm against her skin.

"Hey, don't keep doing that to yourself. There's a reason you came back out tonight, right? And that reason probably wasn't sulking."

"It might have been," Mindy admits, "Either that or getting completely shit-faced until I forget the last few hours, but that sounds a little too teenagery for someone who has work tomorrow."

"A little, but it still sounds like a better plan that sulking," Danny says, tugging at her hand and helping her up.

They stand still for a long moment and she becomes aware of her hand in his, the distance between them, the way the wind seems to have suddenly picked up without her realizing it. It's actually kind of nice, how Danny holds her hand almost delicately between his fingers.

"I should probably change my background, huh?"

"Yeah," he agrees quietly. "Probably."

Mindy feels heat rising in her cheeks again and this time it has nothing to do with Casey. "Come on," she says and manages a smile that doesn't waver on her lips. "Let's go pretend we're teenagers again."


End file.
